The present technology relates to control for a stage on which a pathology slide is placed in a digital microscope apparatus.
In a digital microscope apparatus, when an image of a sample on a pathology slide is taken, a stage on which the pathology slide is placed is moved in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction in order to take an image of a desired position. Further, the stage is moved in a Z-axis direction to perform focusing.
To accurately move a stage to a desired position, positioning control is important. To accurately grasp the position of a stage, for example, a linear encoder or a rotary encoder is used. Further, to control a servo motor, a stepping motor, a linear motor, or the like for driving a stage, various devices are used.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-126964 discloses such a technology that a servo motor that drives a stage is controlled by feeding back information from a position sensor and a current detection unit.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-80660 discloses such a technology that open-loop control is performed for a stepping motor that drives a stage.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2010-39004 discloses such a technology that a linear motor that drives a stage is controlled by a two degree-of-freedom control system constituted of feed-forward control and feedback control.